Sunday, June 5, 2011

The late Christoph Schlingensief-German Pavilion
Winner of the Golden Lion for best National Participation
photo: Andrea Merola/EPA

(Venice, Italy) Christoph Schlingensief did not live to physically accept the Golden Lion for Best National Participation on behalf of Germany, but I think his spirit was there as Aino Laberenz, his wife and long-time collaborator, and Susanne Gaensheimer, the curator, took the stage on his behalf at the awards ceremony yesterday, June 3, at the 54 Venice International Art Festival. The main hall of the German Pavilion is the stage where the powerful Fluxus Oratorio A Church of Fear vs. the Alien Within has been installed, which Schlingensief conceived for the 2008 Ruhrtriennale when he knew he was dying of lung cancer -- the "alien" that took his life just shy of his 50th birthday. In the right wing of the pavilion's two side wings are selected films created by Schlingensief; the left wing is dedicated to the opera village he was creating in Africa, which includes a school with film and music classrooms, a café, a hospital and a central theater building with a festival hall. According to Wikipedia:

In a note to [Schlingensief's] death in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Literature Nobel Prize Laureate Elfriede Jelinek wrote: "Schlingensief was one of the greatest artists who ever lived. I always thought one like him can not die. It is as if life itself would be dead. He was not really a stage director (in spite of Bayreuth and Parsifal), he was everything: he was the artist as such. He has coined a new genre that has been removed from each classification. There will be nobody like him."

This year's jury itself is an international potpourri of characters. The president is Hassan Khan (Egypt), Carol Yinghua Lu (China), Letizia Ragaglia (Italy), Christine Macel (France) and John Waters (USA). The Golden Lion for the Best Artist at the ILLUMInations Exhibition went to Christian Marclay (USA) for The Clock, a 24-hour video work which was called "a masterpiece." It is completely addicting; I had to force myself to stop watching the video and yank myself up off the sofa to write this blog. Click HERE to read Roberta Smith's excellent review for the New York Times; the only thing that is different is that real time has been adjusted to keep Venice time, not New York time. Upon accepting the Golden Lion, Christian Marclay said, "Thank you for giving The Clock its fifteen minutes."

The Silver Lion for a Promising Young Artist at the ILLUMInations Exhibition went to Haroon Mirza of Great Britain. Two special mentions went to Lithuania for Behind the White Curtain by Darius Mikšys and Klara Lidén (Sweden) for Untitled, (Trashcan). Lifetime achievement Golden Lions went to the Austrian artist, Franz West, and to Sturtevant, the American artist who is based in Paris.

On Friday, I had the great honor of shaking the hand of Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who has got to be one of the most beautiful and charming presidents in the world. She was here to celebrate the signing of the permanent Argentine Pavilion in the "Sale d'Armi" of the Arsenal. (She is seated there on the right, together with the President of Israel, Shimon Peres, who is seated on the left, and was here for the opening of Israel's pavilion, the optimistic One Man's Floor is Another Man's Ceiling by Sigalit Landau.)

The Argentine Pavilion features the work of AdriánVillar Rojas, a young artist from Rosario "who is stunning the international art world with monumental works and unconventional materials." The installation is entitled El as asesino de tu herencia (The Murderer of Your Heritage) and was like being in a grey Alice in Wonderland kind of world, with enormous mushroom-like clay sculptures. It was especially thrilling to walk around the installation in the presence of the President of Argentina; she seemed to embody what Biennale President Paolo Baratta had called, "that mysterious goddess quality: an open view of the world."

Adrian Villar Rojas
The Murderer of Your Heritage

One of the most riveting and emotional installations was Egypt's 30 Days of Running in Place by Ahmed Basiony. Five screens played videos of Basiony's video documentation of a project he had recorded one year ago, when he was, literally, running in place for a performance piece. Alternating with those videos were videos of the uprisings in downtown Cairo and Tahrir Square that Basiouny filmed with his digital camera and phone camera beginning on January 25, 2011 through January 27, 2011. According to the press information, he was killed by snipers of the Egyptian Police Forces in Tahrir Square on January 28, 2011 at the age of 32. These are the last words on Ahmed Basiony's Facebook page:

You know this is our last chance for our dignity, the last chance to change the regime that has lasted the past 30 years. Go down to the streets and revolt, bring your food, your clothes, your water, masks and tissues, and a vinegar bottle, and believe me, there is but one very small step left...

If they want war, we want peace, and I will practice proper restraint until the end to regain my nation's dignity.

Ahmed Basiony left behind a wife and two small children, Adam, age 6 and one-year-old Salma. Basiony was an electronic musician and video artist, and considered one of the most important Egyptian artists of the new generation. He had received his Masters from Art Education-Helwan University, where he was a teacher. After I visited the installation, I spoke to an 11-year-old boy from Egypt who was seated in a chair where the curator was supposed to be. He said that Basiony did not die right away from the bullets, so he was also run over by a car.

Cat's favorite installation title comes from the Indian Pavilion: EVERYONE AGREES IT'S ABOUT TO EXPLODE.

I'll leave you with a poor-quality version of Martin Sostre's 2009 satirical video, "Tango With Obama," which is looping inside the Latin American Pavilion through November. I must have watched it ten times by now. I'd like to dedicate the video to Sara Jane Boyers, David Gersh, Steven R. Boyers, Megan H. Jones, William R. Gill, Dottie Wydock, the ashes of my father, Christian Bauer III, the memory of Frank Wisner and the 30,000 people killed by the Soviet Union during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the same week that France, Great Britain and Israel attacked Egypt in an attempt to recapture the Suez Canal. Can someone please name a country whose soul the "United States of America" has not tried to blacken? The USA our Founders created would never behave in such a fashion. Why did we throw the tea in the harbor? Benjamin Franklin is turning in his grave.

5 comments:

Alternating with those videos were videos of the uprisings in downtown Cairo and Tahrir Square that Basiouny filmed with his digital camera and phone camera beginning on January 25, 2011 through January 27, 2011. According to the press information, he was killed by snipers of the Egyptian Police Forces in Tahrir Square on January 28, 2011 at the age of 32. These are the last words on Ahmed Basiony's Facebook page:

Thank you for your great coverage of the Biennale! I have always wanted to go. I also always wondered how my country decided to represent itself each time, and how daunting of a task that is. Did you see any of the Canadian pavilion?

I agree that what a country sends to represent itself during La Biennale is a daunting task. Canada did something amusing this year: "On the approach to the Canada Pavilion Shearer has created a nine-metre-high free-standing mural in response to the architecture of the adjacent British and German Pavilions."

The British and German Pavilions are enormous and Canada is sort of squeezed between them, set back. So, this year, with the tool shed entrance, your pavilion is much more visible and eye-catching. (I don't know when each pavilion was originally built, or what year Canada came on the scene.)

I had a spat with the British because of the attitude of the red-haired fellow in charge, which I haven't written about... yet... (perhaps the Archbishop of Canterbury and Philip Pullman have done that better than I could in this week's New Statesman). But Germany was really great, and deserved to win.

Find Venice Blog on Facebook

Subscribe To

TRANSLATE

Search This Blog

About Me

Award-winning author Cat Bauer (HARLEY, LIKE A PERSON; HARLEY'S NINTH - Alfred A. Knopf) has lived in Venice, Italy since 1998. She was a regular contributor to the International Herald Tribune's Italian supplement, Italy Daily, published with Corriere della Sera. Venetian Cat - Venice Blog has been featured in the Financial Times Weekend Magazine, and read in 198 countries & territories, and 160 languages. Cat Bauer is a contributing editor for LUXOS Magazine, the Venice Insider for CNN and Ninemsn, and had more than 13 million views on Google+ until Google stopped counting

International Group of Heritage Experts Write Open Letter

Venice - Too Hot to Handle

Romance Rules in Venice

NO TORTURE IN ITALY!

Italy Agrees: TORTURE IS OFFENSIVE

Giorgia Boscolo

Venice's First Female Gondolier

Giorgia Boscolo Rows into Venetian Hearts

(12 maggio 2012 - Venice, Italy)

Yesterday, I took the traghetto over to San Tomà and met Giorgia Boscola for the first time. After nearly a millenium, the exclusive male world of the gondolieri accepted a woman as one of their own in 2010. The daughter of a gondolier, Giorgia is continuing the tradition. She's vibrant and friendly, greating passengers with a warm buon giorno, which is refreshing. When I asked her how it felt to be surrounded by so many men, the mother of two said, "I grew up with them, so it is like having hundreds of uncles."

"...Boscolo has dismissed critics who have questioned whether women would be strong enough to control the large boats.

'Childbirth is much more difficult,' she said."

Luxury Made in the Veneto

Bottega Veneta

Diana and Callisto

National Gallery & National Galleries of Scotland Score Titian

Venetian Cat at the Top!

Easy Jet Top 10

Venetian Cat in Easy Jet Top 10

I'm very pleased to be one of Easy Jet Holidays Top 10 Travel blogs:
"Always at the bleeding edge of what’s happening in Venice Venetian Cat writes about the cultural goings on there, too often missed by even the most enthusiastic tourists – Musing on the curious meeting of East and West through history in Venice, Cat discusses a visiting Chinese opera at the Goldoni Theater in Venice."

Ca' Rezzonico

Ca' Rezzonico Museum of 18th Century Venice

Palazzo Mocenigo

Palazzo Mocenigo

Palazzo Mocenigo has been restored with an itinerary dedicated to the history of fragrances in Italy. Scents from the centuries waft throughout the ancient home showcasing Venetian fabric, textiles and fashion.

Cini Foundation Opens its Doors

Guided Tours

Giorgio Cini monumental complex open to visitors

Located on the Island of San Giorgio, the Giorgio Cini complex is one of my favorite places on the entire planet, full of treasures that reflect the highest qualities of mankind. On Saturdays and Sundays, the monumental complex is open to visitors from 10.00 to 16.00, every hour: guided tours in Italian: at 10, 12, 14, 16 guided tours in English or French: 11, 13, 15 During weekdays, guided tours are for groups of at least 12 people, upon reservation.

Imperial Rooms at Museo Correr

Audience Room

Imperial Rooms of the Royal Palace in Venice

My favorite Empress, the non-conformist Elisabeth ("Sissi") of Austria, actually lived in Venice for a period of time inside the Royal Palace, which is now the Museo Correr. Thanks to the Comité Français pour la Savegarde de Venise, Sissi's rooms have been restored and are now open to the public. The simple, elegant decoration of the rooms goes back to the Hapsberg period, with touches of the Napoleonic age.

SimonSeeks Recommended blog

Ca' Giustinian Biennale Headquarters

Ca' Giustinian - Biennale Headquarters

[Secret: the terrace at Ca' Giustinian is a reasonably-priced place to have lunch, or a spritz, while overlooking the Grand Canal. If the weather is not fine, inside is the L'Ombra del Leone (Shadow of the Lion). All are welcome.]